Fade to black: Short - Trident
by maxrpg
Summary: A short story to accompany my series. After a violent storm hits Atlantis, Dr Zalenka and his team discover a hidden room at the outer edge of the city.


**In my last story I mentioned that Atlantis had missed its scheduled check-in by 24 hours and attempts to dial them using Earth's ZPM had failed..**

**...This short story explains why**

* * *

**Atlantis: New Lantea**

* * *

Just like their old home, Lantea, New Lantea is prone to the occasional spout of bad weather, thirty-six hours ago a huge storm with wind speeds of over four hundred miles per hour hit the city, the city shield absorbed the worst of the storm but the resulting waves and movement caused a lot of damage to the outer areas.

As soon as the storm passed teams of engineers began making repairs, Dr Zalenka had lead a team to the far edge of the western peer where a large power fluctuation had earlier been detected, they're currently checking the last room.

Zalenka looks around the room but it's completely empty with the exception of two light panels, one at either side of the room, he scans them for faults but finds nothing wrong with them, "Tower, come in please." he says over the radio.

"This is the tower."

"Yes, we have checked the entire peer and found nothing wrong, are you certain the fluctuation was coming from here?." asks Zalenka.

"The systems are definitely registering a power spike down there."

"Well there's nothing here, the sensors are malfunctioning maybe." replies Zalenka.

"Copy that, I'll run a diagnostic."

"We'll head back..." says Zalenka, he steps out of the room and tells his team they're heading back to the tower.

Dr Yourst, a member of Zalenka's team turns to his colleague, Dr Simmons, whose sitting against the far wall, she was very tired after walking all along the vast peer, "Back to mission control." he says.

"Oh, now we have to walk all the way back. Help me up." says Simmons, holding out her arms.

Yourst helps her up, "Don't forget your bag." he says, as he reaches down and picks up her bag he notices a small puddle against the wall and examines it, "Dr Zalenka." he shouts.

"Yes?." says Zalenka.

"We've got a leak or something here, its not dripping from the ceiling, its coming from under the wall." says Yourst.

"That's impossible, the outer hull is at least five feet thick." says Zalenka.

"Well there it is you can see it for yourself." says Youst, he looks at Simmons, "You didn't wet yourself did you." he jokes.

Simmons gives him the finger.

Zalenka examines the wall and spots a faded rectangular pattern on the side, "There was a panel here, this was a door." he says.

"I don't see a groove or anything, just looks like a wall." says Youst.

Zalenka scans the wall with his Ancient device and detects a faint energy signature behind it, "Tower this is Zalenka, can you bring up our location on the life signs monitor and tell us where we are." he says on his radio.

"Yes Dr, you're at the outer edge of the west peer."

"Does the map indicate a room ahead of us?." asks Zalenka.

"That's a no, you're right at the very edge."

Mr Woolsey was in the control room monitoring the status of the city repairs and overheard the conversation, "Dr this is Woolsey is everything alright?." he asks

"Oh Mr Woolsey, we discovered a leak down here that is coming from under the wall, but its very curious, it appears the wall may have once been a door and we are picking up an energy signature behind it, it is sealed with no apparent way to open it." says Zalenka.

"A door, like a hidden room?." asks Woolsey.

Zalenka shrugs, "Possibly, can we get some cutting equipment down here so we can determine what is behind it, at the very least we need to stop the leak." he asks.

"I'll have someone bring it down for you, I'd also like Dr McKay to assist you." says Woolsey.

* * *

McKay is in the rear of the city in the engine room repairing a damaged power conduit when he gets the radio call from Woolsey, "Can't he don't it himself, I'm a little busy here." he groans.

"That wasn't a request, Dr McKay, I want you to go down and help Zalenka, Peters and Gregory can handle the repairs." says Woolsey.

Rodney isn't happy at being pulled away from his work because once again Zalenka's incompetence shines through and he can't handle things by himself, at least that's what Rodney is thinking, "Fine, where is he?." he asks.

"The edge of the western peer." replies Woolsey.

"What!.." moans McKay, "..do you know how far that is, there isn't even a transported down there, it'll take me about half an hour just to get there." he adds.

"Then you better get moving." says Woolsey.

"Alright listen..." says McKay, turning to Peters and Gregory, "..I have to go help Zalenka so you two need to finish this by yourselves, when you re-connect the conduit you need to slowly increase the power output by point two intervals or you risk shorting out the who thing, got it?." he says.

"Got it." says Peters.

"Point... two... intervals" says McKay, clearly and firmly.

"Yeah, we got it." says Gregory.

McKay nods, "Good, then I'll see you later..whatever." then he grabs his tablet computer and heads for the door, he takes a single step outside and then stops, suddenly hearing a loud electrical pop behind him followed by a voice, "Oops.", McKay stands for a moment shaking his head in despair, he wants to go back and shout at them but he doesn't have time, "Idiots." he moans and then continues walking.

* * *

**53 minutes later**

* * *

A team arrived at the west peer almost an hour ago with cutting torches, they've been working every since trying to cut through the wall which is unusually four inches thick and very hard to cut through.

Zalenka turns to see McKay slowly coming around the corner balancing himself against the corridor wall, gasping and wincing for breath and sweating profusely, "Rodney, you made it." he says.

McKay wobbles over to Youst who is carrying a sports bottle of water, he bumps in to and slides down the wall with his back to a seated position as he opens the bottle and drinks it dry.

"Are you ok?." asks Zalenka.

"That was really, really far." says McKay.

"We're through, Sir." shouts one of the cutters as he turns off his torch and a large chunk of metal falls to the ground, the smoke from the burning edges flows in to a void behind the wall.

"It is a room." says Zalenka.

"Help me up, help me up." says McKay, grabbing his tablet again and heading to the opening with Zalenka.

Zalenka turns on his torch, they stand and look inside, the room is shaped like a hexagon, control stations sit in the five sides of the room against the walls, there's no apparent windows, in the middle of the room is a slightly raised platform about waist hight with a small control panel on the front, sitting on the platform is what appears to be a large chunk of ice surrounded by a force field and being cooled from a vent above.

McKay and Zalenka look at each other with wonder on their faces and their competitiveness kicks in as they both know what the other is thinking, 'I want to be first inside', McKay quickly steps through the hole and in to the room first, when his foot touches the floor the light panels on the ceiling come on and light up the room, sensing his presence.

Heading in different directions they have a slow wander and look around the room, walking around the central platform and then meeting back by the door as they stand and look at the block of ice.

"So...what do you think it is?." asks Zalenka.

"I have no idea. You?." replies McKay.

Zalenka folds his arms, shrugs and shakes his head, "Well clearly the Ancients put it here and sealed the room for some reason, why do you think they did that?." he asks.

"I don't know, let's see if we can get anything from here." says McKay, plugging a tablet cable in to the front panel, the force field, lights and control panels flicker when he plugs it in.

"Power fluctuations, I'll see if I can stabilise it." says Zalenka, heading the back of the room and removing a panel at the bottom of the far wall.

"Dr do you want some help?." asks Youst, peering through the door.

"Uhm no that's ok, you can head back to the tower." says Zalenka.

"You know what, go and help Peters and Gregory over in the engine room." says McKay, concentrating on his tablet data, "...stop them from blowing up the whole city." he adds.

* * *

**A few minutes go by after they leave.**

* * *

"So did you find anything?." asks Zalenka, still fiddling with the panel.

"Yeah, its a lab that belong to some Ancient called...Eulan, and its old." says McKay.

"Old?" questions Zalenka.

"According to this the systems have been online for more than seven million years." says McKay.

"Really, how is that even possible?." asks Zalenka.

"Well..." says McKay, he walks around to the side of the platform, kneels down and presses several panels on the side of it, each panel then slides out and each one contains a ZPM, "...because its powered by ZPM's. Eighteen in total." he adds.

Zalenka stands and walks over to look, "Wow. How did we not detect these." he says.

"The whole room is shielded by an electrical field blocking out the sensors." says McKay.

The force field around the ice fluctuates again and then the whole room goes dark as all the systems, including the field and cooling vent above, they can see the light in the corridor so the outage is only in the room.

Moments later the ice starts to melt and drip on the floor, "Its melting." says Zalenka.

"Thanks for stating the obvious." says McKay, "..it shouldn't be melting this quickly should it." he adds.

The rate the ice is melting quickly increases and before they know it the ice turns in to a lump of water and falls and rushes off the platform and in to the room, soaking them almost knee deep.

"What the hell." moans McKay.

"Let's get out of here." says Zalenka, they both wade through the water and step through the hole in the door in to the corridor outside, "That's freezing." moans McKay.

"We should get some pumps or something down here, and a nequadah generator." says Zalenka.

"And some towels." says McKay.

Zalenka gets on his radio, "Tower this is Zalenka, can you have a generator and water pumps sent d...", he stops mid sentence after looking over at the door, "...Rodney." he says.

As they look at the door they see the water coming over the rim and through the hole, the water isn't overflowing, its moving up and through the hole by itself and forming a large puddle of water that is moving towards them, the puddle stops by their feet and then slowly gathers and flows upwards, it forms a shape, still water but in the shape of a man, the head torso and arms.

"Zalenka, are you there?." asks Woolsey.

"Oooooooh...this is bad." mumbles McKay, "...what do you say we head back to the tower huh...slowly." he adds.

"Agreed." says Zalenka.

"Doctors Zalenka and McKay, are you reading me?." asks Woolsey.

They back up slowly away from the water and then turn and walk down the corridor feeling very uneasy, "..slowly, very slowly..." says McKay, they look back when they reach the corner and then start running when the water form bursts forward and chases them, "...moving quickly, very very quickly!." shouts McKay.

The water crashes in to the wall as it rushes around the corner, it crashes from wall to wall as it makes its way down the corridor, shorting out the light panels as it rushes past them, it catches up with them and bashes them both against the wall before continuing forwards.

McKay and Zalenka are soaked and laying on the floor, "Tower, come in, tower, tower." says Zalenka back on his radio.

"Zalenka, we're picking up huge power spikes down there is everything alright?." asks Woolsey.

"It's heading towards the middle of the city." says Zalenka.

"What is?." asks Woolsey.

"The water." says Zalenka.

"Is the peer flooding?." asks Woolsey.

"No, no, no, the water, it is alive, it is heading towards the tower." says Zalenka.

"Woolsey this is McKay, he's not kidding!." says McKay.

* * *

Woolsey leans on the console in the control room not sure what to make of what they're saying, then Amelia, the control room technician, brings his attention to the screen displaying the cities power layout, malfunction alerts are popping up all over the west peer, the indicators are forming a pattern, a line heading directly for the middle of the city.

"Seal the peer doors, lock down that area." orders Woolsey.

The water form reaches the outer door of the peer which has now been sealed, it looks around and then disappears down one of the cities overflow pipes.

"Sir, the malfunction indicators have stopped." says Amelia.

"Doctors, we have the water, the..whatever it is trapped down there, we'll assemble a team to come and get you, remain where you are." says Woolsey.

Unknown to them, the water form has made it out of the peer and in to the surrounding ocean, it reappears out of the water near the tower, like water from a fire hose gushing out of the ocean, it spirals its way up central tower and comes crashing through the window behind the Stargate.

Woolsey rushes over to the railing and looks down in to the gate room, he sees the water take the top half form of a man, "What on Earth.." he says to himself, the water form rushes up the central stair case and around to the control room, it zigzags around the control stations pushing personnel out of the way and then stops at the dialling console, it punches the console with its hand of water and the water seeps in to the console and the gate activates.

It looks at Woolsey whose standing with his back to the railing, clinging on tightly, it rushes towards him, Woolsey closes his eyes and turns his head waiting for the impact of the water to hit him, but instead it splits in two and flows around him, it flows directly down and through the Stargate and it deactivates followed by a powerful electrical surge that completely disables the gate.

Woolsey opens his eyes and turns around to see it gone, and he's surprised to be dry as a bone but doesn't have a clue of what to make of what just happened.

* * *

**The End**

* * *

**Authors Notes**

* * *

In 2015 I will be taking my Fade To Black series in a new direction. I have a plan to write 5-6 full stories this year that will all be tied together and lead up to another action packed conclusion, I will develop the characters further and we will see the appearance of a new enemy, an enemy that seems unbeatable...at least by the usual means.

In between my full stories I will write short ones just like this one that will reveal new characters and tell a little bit more about specific events that occur in my main stories as we work our way to the last and final story.

These are plots/outlines for some of the stories I hope to tell in 2015, I'm not sure in what order they'll be written but they should be pretty good. These are temp titles.

**Mothers love**

_Sam goes in to labour and gives birth to her and Jack's beautiful baby, but will the happiness and celebrations last, what should be a happy day turns in to a mothers worst nightmare._

**Astrobaga **

_Alisana must face her fears when The Commander, leader of the Verdain, makes a sudden reappearance._

**Uberu **

_After unlocking a hidden signal embedded within the gate network, SG-1 head off to a distant planet and make an amazing discovery._

**Run**

_Vala and Alisana have a cheeky night out in the city but things don't go according to plan, what should have been a harmless night of fun turns in to a frantic search and rescue mission._

**Some things we will see in these stories and others**:

The Stargate program and alien technology are made public - the world will know

SG-1 travel to the original Furling home world

The alliance of races (Nox, Furling, Ancient, Asgard, Human) is called to gather at an ancient meeting ground

Alisana will mature and we will discover more about her and her people, she also turns to the "dark side"

Our old friends Raina and Llula will be joining us once again, we last saw Raina in my original fade to black story, but we will catch up with her and find out what she's been up to.

All these stories will be linked together and we will see lots of different stuff happening in each of them, I'm quite excited :)

Until we get to the final chapter of my 2015 series..

Get ready for – **Olympus** \- people.

Thank you all for reading my stories and for the reviews and feedback over the last couple of years and I hope you continue to read them.


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